Regenerated cellulose lyocell fiber is well known. Generally, lyocell fiber is made from reconstituted cellulose spun from aqueous amine oxide solution. An exemplary process is to spin lyocell fiber from a solution of cellulose in aqueous tertiary amine N-oxide; for example, N-methylmorpholine N-oxide (NMMO). The solution is typically extruded through a suitable die into an aqueous coagulating bath to produce an assembly of filaments. These fibers have been widely employed in textile applications. Inasmuch as lyocell fiber includes highly crystalline alpha cellulose it has a tendency to fibrillate which is undesirable in most textile applications and is considered a drawback. In this regard, U.S. Pat. No. 6,235,392 and United State Patent Application Publication No. 2001/0028955 to Luo et al. disclose various processes for producing lyocell fiber with a reduced tendency to fibrillate.
On the other hand, fibrillation of cellulose fibers is desired in some applications such as filtration. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,042,769 to Gannon et al. discloses a process for making lyocell fibers which readily fibrillate. The fibers so produced may be treated with a disintegrator as noted in Col. 5 of the '769 patent. See lines 30+. See, also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,821 of Gannon et al. Highly fibrillated lyocell fibers have been found useful for filter media having a very high degree of efficiency. In this regard, note United States Patent Application No. 2003/0168401 and United States Application Publication No. 2003/0177909 both to Koslow.
It is known in the manufacture of absorbent sheet to use lyocell fibers having fiber diameters and lengths similar to papermaking fibers. In this regard U.S. Pat. No. 6,841,038 to Horenziak et al. discloses a method and apparatus for making absorbent sheet incorporating lyocell fibers. Note FIG. 2 of the '038 patent which discloses a conventional through-air dried process (TAD process) for making absorbent sheet. U.S. Pat. No. 5,935,880 to Wang et al. also discloses non-woven fibrous webs incorporating lyocell fibers. See also, United States Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0019571. Such fibers have a tendency to flocculate and are thus extremely difficult to employ in conventional wet-forming papermaking processes for absorbent webs.
While the use of lyocell fibers in absorbent structures is known, it has not heretofore been appreciated that very fine lyocell fibers or other regenerated cellulose fibers with extremely low coarseness can provide unique combinations of properties such as wet strength, absorbency and softness even when used in papermaking furnish in limited amounts. Moreover, the sheet of the invention is particularly useful as a cleaning wiper since it is remarkably efficient at removing residue from a surface. In accordance with the present invention, it has been found that regenerated cellulose microfiber can be readily incorporated into a papermaking fiber matrix of hardwood and softwood to enhance networking characteristics and provide premium characteristics even when using less than premium papermaking fibers.